NAXOS CD OF THE MONTH | 8570398 | CD | 747313039876
Bottesini Concertino in C minor, Duo Concertante

Thomas Martin, Franco Petracchi (double bass), Moray Welsh (cello), London Symphony Orchestra, Matthew Gibson (conductor)

• A Bottesini Double Bass Concerto was a set work in the recent ABC Young Performers Awards, broadcast on ABC Classic FM
• Highly enjoyable, virtuosic music with wide appeal
• Features London Symphony Orchestra
• ALSO AVAILABLE Bottesini Grand Concerto (Naxos 8570397)

Known to his contemporaries as the Paganini of the double bass, Giovanni Bottesini significantly extended the technical possibilities of the instrument both as a composer and virtuoso soloist. After the Prelude to Ero e Leandro, Bottesini's greatest operatic masterpiece, this disc continues with the most popular of his compositions for the instrument among bassists today, the Concertino in C minor. In this work virtuosity is always at the service of musical ends. The rarely performed Duo Concertante for Cello and Double Bass on Themes from Bellini’s I Puritani makes considerable technical demands of the soloists. ALSO AVAILABLE Bottesini Grand Concerto (Naxos 8570397).

NAXOS | 8570906 | CD | 747313090679
Vivaldi for Meditation
Music includes favourite concertos for flute, violin, recorder, cello & bassoon, excerpts from The Four Seasons.

Various Performers

• Classical music is ideal for meditation
• Attractively packaged with helpful hints on how to meditate effectively
• Naxos ‘chillout’ and ‘meditation’ titles are very popular; visit the 'select your classics' section of our website www.savd.com.au for more titles
• Top-quality performances of beautiful Italian Baroque music

The greatest music is both a communication from the upper levels of human consciousness and also a way of helping us to ascend to such levels ourselves. Listening to Vivaldi's beautiful music is both extremely pleasurable and deeply satisfying. Renowned during his life as an amazing performer, his masterpieces remain among the most popular music ever written. The works in this collection were chosen to help transport you from the cares of the everyday world into an 'inner space' of calm and refreshment.

NAXOS | 8570907 | CD | 747313090778
Handel for Meditation
Music includes Overture and Pastoral Symphony from Messiah, movements from concertos for oboe and organ, harpsichord suites, concerti grossi, Fireworks Music.

Various Performers

• Classical music is ideal for meditation
• Attractively packaged with helpful hints on how to meditate effectively
• Naxos ‘chillout’ and ‘meditation’ titles are very popular; visit the 'select your classics' section of our website www.savd.com.au for more titles
• Top-quality performances of beautiful English Baroque music

The meditative experience is one that comes naturally to us when we are fully at ease with the world, and fortunately music can help to bring our scattered energies together when the demands of daily life have taken their toll. Handel's instrumental and orchestral works have remained popular for more than two hundred years for their melodious beauty. This collection has been prepared to help you achieve a pleasurable state of 'alert relaxation' that will both enliven and sooth.

BIS | BISCD191214 | CD6 | 7318591912149
The Sibelius Edition Vol 5 - Theatre Music
King Christian II Op 27, Kuolema, Valse triste & Scene with Cranes, Canzonetta & Valse romantique, Pelleas and Melisande concert suite, Belshazzar’s Feast Original theatre music and concert suite, Swanwhite original theatre music and concert suite, Twelfth Night Op 60, Scaramouche Op 71, Jokamies Op 83, The Tempest Op 109: Original theatre music, Canon from Suite No 1
Soloists, Lahti Chamber Choir and Opera Chorus, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vanska, Jaako Kuusisto (conductors), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, Jorma Panula (conductors)
Incidental music for the theatre is a genre in which Sibelius’s outstanding abilities as a composer of large orchestral canvases were combined with his equally well-honed talent for writing concise, sharply characterised portraits of characters or scenes. Among the plays given the Sibelius treatment are works by Shakespeare, Strindberg, Maeterlinck and the composer’s brother-in-law Arvid Jarnefelt. His last work in the genre was for Shakespeare’s The Tempest, described by Sibelius biographer Andrew Barnett as ' the zenith of Sibelius’s theatre music'. The SIBELIUS EDITION has won recognition among critics and lovers of Sibelius’ music as, to quote the reviewer in , a set which ‘constitutes the same kind of milestone as the Solti Ring cycle – a thing both unprecedented and, in its totality, unsurpassable.' (American Record Guide) As with earlier installments, the present box set includes variant versions, a couple of them receiving their world premiere recordings.

CEDILLE | CDR90000104 | CD | 735131910422
Royal Mezzo
Barber Andromache's Farewell Op 39, Berlioz La Mort de Cleopatre, Ravel Sheherazade, Britten Phaedra Op 93
Jennifer Larmore (mezzo-soprano), Grant Park Orchestra, Carolos Kalmar (conductor)
International star mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore sings four classic roles drawn from legend, literature and myth whose epic emotions perfectly suit her 'faultless technique' (BBC Music). Berlioz's The Death of Cleopatra shocked the French musical establishment with its bold harmonies and brilliant orchestral colours, qualities also to be enjoyed in Ravel's sensuous song cycle Sheherezade, which was inspired by the story-telling queen of The Arabian Nights. Andromache's Farewell shows Barber at his most dramatic, telling the tale of the doomed Trojan queen, while Britten's Phaedra recounts the horrifying mythical story of Theseus' wife's tragic infatuation for her own stepson. Conducted by Carlos Kalmar, the Grant Park Orchestra has been acclaimed for its 'exuberance, commitment and edge' (New York Times).

CHANDOS | CHAN10484X | CD | 095115148426
Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf
Cinderella Suite Op 87, Pushkiniana - Dances from Eugene Onegin Op 71, Fountain Scene with Polonaise from Boris Godunov Op 70bis, Two Pushkin Waltzes Op 120
Lina Prokofiev (narrator) Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi (conductor)
Chandos proudly rereleases its highly praised series of Prokofiev's orchestral music on 6 superb CDs. This album, which features the composer's widow as narrator of Peter and The Wolf, was deemed 'first choice' by Music magazine on its first release. A number of other works, all associated with the poetic works of Alexander Pushkin, complement Prokofiev's best-loved children's classic. ALSO AVAILABLE: CHAN10481X, CHAN10482X, CHAN10483X, CHAN10485X & CHAN10486X - See 'classical cd & sacd' section for more about these stand-out titles. 'The playing throughout is first class' (Canberra Times), 'brilliantly exciting performances, which are stunningly recorded' (Australian Hi-Fi), 'spectacular Chandos engineering' (Hi-Fi News), 'splendidly characterful', 'the playing is rich and brilliant' (Gramophone).

DACAPO | 6220509 | SACD | 747313150960
Gade Jealousy - Suites, Tangos and Waltzes

Odense Symphony Orchestra, Matthias Aeschbacher (conductor)
Jacob Gade (1879-1963) - Danish composer and violinist - is world famous as the composer of the tango Jalousie. Besides this celebrated concert piece, Gade left a large number of melodious orchestral works in the popular music genres of his day and composed several symphonic suites. This re-issue of Odense Symphony Orchestra’s highly acclaimed Jacob Gade collection fully displays the composer’s sense of colourful orchestration and musical storytelling at its very best in luminous new super audio quality. 'Dacapo has here put together a very attractive disc of Gade's music...An irresistible collection.' (3 STARS, The Times), 'It's effective, well-constructed music - light but very likeable.' (5 STARS, BBC Music Magazine).

HAENSSLER CLASSIC | HAN98516 | iPod | 4010276020974
The BachPod
The Complete Bach Edition pre-loaded onto an iPod. 172 CDs worth of music!
Soloists, The Gachinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling (director)
This year Helmuth Rilling celebrates his 75th birthday and Haenssler Classic marks this historic occasion with a unique new high-tech take on arguably the best 'old' music ever written: the complete Bach Edition preloaded onto iPod! 175 hours of masterpieces by JS Bach in brilliant digital sound, the equivalent of 172 CDs, documenting Rilling's life-long passion for the composer many regard as the greatest who ever lived. Between 1975 and 2000, Rilling recorded virtually every note that has come down to us of Bach's music, a lifetime labour of love that has gained critical praise. The iPod has 80GB capacity and comes with 3 backup DVDs.

HARMONIA MUNDI | HMU907428 | CD | 093046742829
Purcell Keyboard Suites and Grounds
Richard Egarr (harpsichord)
Published a year after his death, Henry Purcell’s eight keyboard suites were long overshadowed by his more celebrated works. They are the heirs to a characteristically English vein, shifting from humour to seriousness in delightfully casual fashion, like the elegant grounds chosen by Richard Egarr to echo them here; the musical testament of a composer who died all too soon. Richard Egarr is one of the most versatile musicians performing today. He has worked with all types of keyboards, performing repertoire ranging across 15th-century organ intabulations; JS Bach on harpsichord; Dussek, Schumann and Chopin on early pianos; and Berg and Maxwell Davies on modern piano.

HYPERION | CDA67725 | CD | 034571177250
Romantic Residues - Songs for Tenor and Harp
by Roth, Britten, Skempton, Faure, Ravel, Caplet, Saint-Saens, Tournier
James Gilchrist (tenor), Alison Nicholls (harp), Jaime Martin (flute)
James Gilchrist 'is now unsurpassed among lyric tenors in sweetness and technical security, and for his musical intelligence' (The Independent). In his first solo disc for Hyperion he presents an unforgettable recital of love songs from America, England and France. Taking its title from Alec Roth's song cycle Romantic Residues based on the poetry of Vikram Seth, which was composed especially for Gilchrist, this fascinating album ranges from the light and whimsical to the darkly melancholic. Impeccably performed and beautifully recorded, this is a disc that anyone who has a heart will surely treasure.

LSO LIVE | LSO0665 | SACD | 822231166528
Mahler Symphony No 7
London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev (conductor)
Mahler's Seventh is his most enigmatic symphony. The funereal march of the opening movement gives way to the serene Nachtmusik (night music) movements, and a ghostly scherzo, before culminating in a feverishly joyful finale. 'It takes a remarkable interpreter to hold the thing together and drive it through to its final ambiguous shudder. Gergiev did so with bravura; one senses that he means every note with desperate conviction’ (The Guardian). 'A performance of the Seventh Symphony as cohesive and powerful as I can remember.' (Financial Times). Recorded in March 2008 at the Barbican Centre, London.

LYRITA | REAM2104 | CD2 | 5020926210425
Bax Legend-Sonata, Cello Sonata, Sonatina, Folk-Tale
Jacob Divertimento for Solo Cello, Elegy for Cello and Piano
Florence Hooton (cello), Wilfred Parry (piano)
This 2-CD presents legendary performances drawn from the RCS Mono Series. Florence Hooton was a student, Professor and Fellow of the Royal Academy. A leading chamber musician, she taught many fine British cellists. The David Martin/Florence Hooton Concerto Prize continues as a major annual event at the Academy. The Wilfred Parry Competition memorialises that pianist's important contribution to British music. Hooton and Parry are ideal interpreters of six fine chamber works by their contemporaries Arnold Bax and Gordon Jacob.

NAIVE | OP30466 | CD | 0709861304660
From Italy to Brazil
Music by Handel, Vivaldi, Villa-Lobos
Veronica Cangemi (soprano), Philippe Spinosi (guitar), Una Stella
Prize-winning Argentinean soprano Veronica Cangemi has worked with such ensembles as Les arts florissants, Il giardino armonico as well as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Rene Jacobs, and beyond this with the conductors William Christie, Sir Neville Marriner and Marek Janowski. Philippe Spinosi, a member of the brilliant Duo Spinosi, boldly explores guitar music both old and new. With Una Stella they present a stirring recital of music from Baroque to beyond that traverses half the world.

PHOENIX | 105PHOENIX | CD | 811691011059
Mahler Songs of a Wayfarer
Kindertotenlieder, Songs from 'The Youth's Magic Horn'
Thomas Quasthoff (bass-baritone), Hakan Hagegard (baritone), Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Gary Bertini (conductor)
Maestro Gary Bertini, acclaimed as one of the most remarkable Mahler interpreters of his generation, conducts two equally outstanding soloists and the Cologne RSO in this marvellous recording of orchestral Lieder. At the time of this recording (1992-3), Thomas Quasthoff was making a name for himself as a brilliant singer. Hakan Hagegard made his debut at the Royal Opera Stockholm in 1968 as Papageno and later won universal acclaim in Ingmar Bergman’s television film of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. With a dream team like this, expect some magic moments of Mahler!

OPUS ARTE | OAR3106D | DVD | 809478031062
Gounod Romeo and Juliette
Roberto Alagna, Leontina Vaduva, The Royal Opera Chorus, The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Charles Mackerras (conductor)
Sir Charles Mackerras teases the romantic beauty from Gounod’s score, which has been much admired and performed since its first performance, at the Theatre Lyrique, Paris, in 1867. In this 1994 recording, the youthful Roberto Alagna as Romeo, and Leontina Vaduva as the unattainable Juliette, lead an excellent cast in a touching portrayal of this story of impossible love, based on the play by William Shakespeare. ‘They are a Romeo and Juliet who look as if they were born to play their roles.’ (Financial Times) ‘Alagna is the fascinating, never failing, special, real tenor thing...He delivers the goods.’ (The Guardian)

HAT HUT | HATOLOGY602 | CD | 752156060222
Sweet Freedom - What Now?
Joe McPhee (tenor and alto saxophones, alto clarinet), Lisle Ellis (double bass), Paul Plimley (piano)
14 years have passed since the recording of Sweet Freedom – Now What? Today the world is a very different and infinitely more dangerous place. The Berlin Wall has fallen only to have new ones rise up in Israel and along the US southern border with Mexico (to name a few). Physical walls separating people (for what ever reasons deemed legitimate) pale before psychological walls caused by economics, politics and wars spanning generations. Civil and human rights fall prey to expediency, caught up in a meat grinder of opinion, while the revolution is being televised in full, bloody and horrific color daily...hourly. Ends justify means with manifesto, bravado and claims of responsibility. The words from Janis Joplin’s song, Me and my Bobby McGee, 'Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose' give pause for reflection. Still, at the end of the day, the question is...Now What?

IRIS MUSIC | IR3001993 | CD | 3464630019936
Jazz Manouche
Romane and Stochelo Rosenberg and many more performers
Great gypsy jazz performed by legendary artists: Romane & Stochelo Rosenberg - After you've gone, Just enough for jazz all jazzy, Melody for Babik; Romane - Swing 98; Django Reinhardt - Nuages; New Quintet du Hot Club de France - Melodie pour Stephane; Tchavolo Schmitt - J'attendrai, I had to be you; Rosenberg Trio - Last minute swing; Tchan Tchou Vidal - Les flots du Danube; Romane & Angelo Debarre - Legende; Hot Club USA - Stompin at decca, Djangology; Fapy Lafertin Quintet - Exactly like you; Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli - Echoes of France

INSTITUT DU MONDE ARABE | 321085 | CD | 794881890521
Lord Kanoum
Imane Homsy (qanun, vocal)
The qanun (a large oriental zither) is traditionally used to accompany singing. It repeats the musical phrase and is played with two fingers. On this exciting new release, we see it in a new light as accompanist-interpreter-soloist on a par with any singer. The qanun as a 'complete' instrument, revealed in all its expressive glory by Imane Homsy and the 'ten fingers technique' developed by her, which conjures up new ambiences and colours. The qanun has at last found the place it deserves at the heart of classical Arab music.

IRIS MUSIC | IR3001987 | CD | 3464630019875
Rio Blues
Marthino da Vila, Grupo Raca, Alicione, Bezzera da Silva, Roberto Ribeiro, Aparecida, Zeze Motta, Clementina de Jesus, Dicro, Dona Yvonne Lara, Joao Nougeira
Born in the heart of the urban ghetto, the Brazilian blues was first and foremost a dance in which everyday suffering was turned into a celebration in Samba. A magnetic city, in the early twentieth century Rio de Janeiro attracted many migrants from Minais Gerais or from Bahia, the most African of the states of Brazil. First with primitive microphones and then over the airwaves, black Brazilian musicians, like their American bluesman counterparts, gave birth to music from the 1920s onwards that had both detachment and virtuosity, that was sometimes very earthy but always celestial: Samba

NAXOS AUDIOBOOKS | 688112 | CD6 | 9789626348819
Candide, Zadig
by Voltaire
read by Neville Jason
Voltaire’s razor-sharp satire on philosophical optimism, Candide, is coupled here with another of the famous author’s most celebrated works, Zadig. Both challenge the moral and philosophical orthodoxies of his day with humour and sly wit, whilst parodying the cliched formulas of so many contemporary novels. Candide traces the fortunes of its eponymous character, a staunch optimist who eventually becomes disillusioned by a series of hardships and misfortunes. Zadig likewise follows its main character Zadig, a Babylonian philosopher, as he is subjected to the whims of Fate and the machinations of those around him. This, the only recording of Zadig on audiobook, is read magnificently by Neville Jason, who has produced many acclaimed recordings for Naxos AudioBooks.